Chapter Thirteen
Leticia stood next to Elizabeth staring up at the ramshackle building that would soon become a school. “Are you sure it won’t fall down around us?”
Elizabeth stared up doubtfully. “The agent said it’s in good repair. The roof is new. And the improvements we are making are going well.”
“Let’s go inside.”
They pushed opened the door. Inside, their solicitor stood examining the ceiling. The main hall echoed with their footsteps as they crossed the room.
The older man greeted them. “It’s taking shape. The furniture will begin arriving tomorrow and the books and slates should be here any time.”
“You’ve done a wonderful job,” Elizabeth said. “I don’t know where we’d be without you. And the teachers?” She turned to Leticia.
Leticia nodded. “I’ve been corresponding with the applicants. There are three I’m going to interview this afternoon. Are you able to attend?”
“Of course, but I trust your judgment.”
“I hope one of them will be suitable,” Leticia said. “The applicants all seemed to have a proper education.”
The solicitor interjected. “Are they aware of the wages we can offer?”
“The three I’m interviewing today are.”
“We hope to garner more supporters, then we can give the teacher a raise if she works out.” He made a gesture to the rest of the school. “Come, let me show you around.”
They toured the kitchen. A broken-down table stood in the middle of the room with four rickety wooden chairs but the stove looked capable enough. A small room off the kitchen could board the kitchen help, if the need arose, and one of the rooms upstairs would board the teacher. Perhaps in time, they could house a few children, as well, as a type of charity boarding school. A large room near the main door could provide a place for the children to gather after their studies.
“This would be the perfect room for dancing.” Elizabeth fell into a waltz pattern.
“Dancing would aid them in finding future spouses, since even among working classes, social activities involve dances,” Leticia agreed. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could bring in a piano to accompany them, and perhaps teach some of them to play?”
The solicitor coughed into his fist. “I doubt teaching penniless orphans to play the piano would help them find employment.”
“A piano to provide music so they could learn to dance would be nice.” Elizabeth cast a guilty glance at the solicitor.
The man adjusted his spectacles. “I suggest you focus on the basis of reading and mathematics first before you consider things like dancing and music.”
“We will. For now.” Leticia and Elizabeth smiled like a pair of naughty children in perfect accord with their plans.
They completed the tour, discussing where to place the furniture. Leticia frowned at the small hearth in the schoolroom. “I doubt this will provide adequate heat. Do you think we could squeeze the cost of a second stove out of our budget?”
The solicitor frowned and made calculations. “I believe so, especially if we can find a used one. That would leave us with barely enough funding to keep the school open for a single year, and I don’t recommend having less than a year’s cushion for expenses.”
Leticia imagined little fingers too cold to hold their slates and pencils. “At least they’d be learning. And we may yet receive more pledges.”
The solicitor nodded and turned to leave. “Shall I remain here while you conduct your interviews?”
“No, don’t bother.” Leticia waved her hand. “Two of Lady Averston’s footmen are here if we need anything.”
“In fact, if you’d be so kind as to send one of them in on your way out,” Elizabeth added.
He nodded, bowed, and took his leave.
One of Elizabeth’s footmen came in. “My lady?”
“Oh, Cooper, do light a fire for us, please.”
“Of course, my lady.”
The former-thief-turned-footman, thanks to Mrs. Goodfellow’s agency and Elizabeth’s dogged belief in the man, worked a tinderbox. As he leaned forward, Leticia caught sight of a pistol tucked into his breeches. A pistol? She caught Elizabeth’s eye and nodded toward the firearm in an unspoken question.
Elizabeth smiled down at the man. “Cooper always carries a gun when he leaves the house with me.”
Cooper grunted. “Can’t be too careful. Spec’ly after th’ trouble las’ year.”
Leticia nodded, picturing the burly servant helping Tristan and Captain Kensington rescue Richard from the terrible men who’d captured him. No doubt his caution sprang from a loyalty to his mistress who had given him a second chance, in addition to the scare they’d had when Elizabeth had nearly been captured as well. But then, Elizabeth’s gentle nature inspired devotion from everyone who knew her, both servant and lord.
Cooper blew on a flicker in the hearth. A moment later, a flame crackled. A humble knock sounded at the door in the other room and Cooper hurried to open it. A girl barely out of the schoolroom entered and stood in the threshold. Golden-blonde hair peeked out of her limp bonnet and eyes as blue as a china doll’s stared at them through a thin face. Her threadbare pelisse hung from her body. Leticia wanted to hire her to save her from starvation. The young woman gripped a ragged valise as if it contained all her possessions.
She curtsied and spoke in cultured tones at odds with her appearance. “Ma’am. I’m Matilda Harper—Mrs. Harper.”
Leticia motioned her in. “I’m Miss Wentworth and this is Lady Averston. Do come in.”
They sat on the hard wooden chairs and Leticia began. “In your letter, you mentioned you were a governess?”
“Yes, ma’am. After my husband died in the war, I worked as a governess. I have no children,” she hastened to explain as if fearing having children would render her unsuitable.
“Have you references with you?” Elizabeth asked.
Young Mrs. Harper paled. “No, ma’am. I’m afraid I haven’t.”
“None at all?”
Mrs. Harper wrung her hands. “I left under…unfavorable circumstances.”
“You were dismissed?” Leticia asked.
“No, ma’am—I left.” She swallowed and kept her gaze on the floor.
“You left without giving notice?” Leticia exchanged looks with Elizabeth.
Elizabeth leaned forward and eyed the girl. Two bright spots appeared on the girl’s cheeks and her shoulders fell.
“Mrs. Harper.” Elizabeth’s voice gentled. “Did you leave because you were handled roughly?”
The girl’s mouth pressed together and her chin started quivering.
Anger roiled up inside Leticia. “Your employer took advantage of you?”
Mrs. Harper snuck a look up. “I rebuffed him. Over time, he grew so forceful that I felt I had no choice but to run.”
Elizabeth clenched her hands in her lap. “Do you have anywhere to stay?”
“No, ma’am. I have no family.”
“We can offer you a room in which to sleep, rent-free, until we’ve made a decision.”
The girl looked up, hopeful. “Here?”
“No,” Elizabeth said. “I wouldn’t want you to stay here alone; our caretaker has not arrived yet. You’ll come home with me. We aren’t promising you a position yet; we have other applicants to interview, but I vow you won’t sleep in the streets.”
Leticia almost hugged Elizabeth. Fortunately, Richard owned many lucrative estates and investments, or he’d never be able to feed all the lost waifs his wife kept bringing home.
“Now, let’s discuss your education.” Leticia glanced at her notes with her interview questions.
During the interview, they learned the girl had a solid education and an infallible memory. She’d worked as assistant teacher at a factory school in the north where she’d received her education before she married. After her husband of two months died, she’d become a governess to seven children for nearly a year.
Upon completing the interview, Elizabeth said, “Wait in the main hall until we’ve completed the interviews, then you’ll come home with me, at least for a time, until we’ve made a decision and you are able to make other arrangements.”
The young woman nodded, her mouth working as if trying to hold back tears. “I’m so grateful to you, my lady.”
After the girl curtsied and left, they looked at each other. Leticia spoke first. “She’s well-spoken and well-educated, but I fear she may be too timid to control a large classroom.”
“She has experience—limited, admittedly—but she does have some.”
“Her experience is with girls who come from better circumstances. Street children may be much more unruly.”
“We shall see,” Elizabeth said.
Cooper announced their second applicant, and they repeated the process but found this one too stern. The third arrived, but after taking a look at the humble accommodations, announced she was no longer interested.
After the third applicant flounced away, Leticia glanced at Elizabeth who chewed on her lower lip.
“I like Mrs. Harper,” Leticia said.
“A trial basis, perhaps, then.” Elizabeth nodded. “If she isn’t up to the challenge of a larger classroom, we can, at the very least, give her a good reference so she may find a position elsewhere, and it will buy us time to find a replacement.”
Leticia pictured a brute trying to take advantage of that sweet slip of a girl in his employment. “Horrid man. I’d like to run him through.”
“Things like that should never happen,” Elizabeth agreed.
They stood and donned their gloves and hats. By then, the fire had died down to embers.
Cooper came in, banked the coals and turned to them. “Ready t’ go ’ome, m’lady?”
Elizabeth nodded. “Yes, we’re going home. The girl in the main hall is coming with us. She’ll be our new teacher, but she shan’t stay here all alone.”
“O’ course not,” Cooper agreed. “Didn’t ye ’ire a caretaker?”
“And a maid, but they won’t arrive until after the furniture comes.”
Cooper summoned the carriage, locked all the doors and windows, then escorted them to the main hall. Did other footmen consider themselves their mistress’s personal bodyguards? Perhaps Richard had put him up to it. It would be so like him to be that protective.
The very young Mrs. Harper stood, chewing on her lower lip as she eyed them.
Leticia smiled. “Mrs. Harper, we’d like to offer you the position of head school mistress. You’ll begin next Monday.”
Mrs. Harper let out her breath in what almost could have been a sob. “Oh, ma’am, my lady, thank you. I promise to do my very best to help the young ones.”
“I’m sure you will,” Leticia soothed. “We have every confidence in your ability. The class will be small at first, but it will grow as word gets out.”
“Yes, ma’am. My last employer had seven active children, including twin boys. I may be small, but I can handle a class.”
Elizabeth said, “Since the school isn’t quite ready for boarders, you’ll stay with me. When the furniture and the other staff arrive, you can move in.”
“The carriage is ’ere, m’lady,” Cooper said.
They boarded the carriage, lighter of heart now that they’d found a schoolteacher. Elizabeth dropped off Leticia at Aunt Alice’s house and she practically skipped inside. The round table in the middle of the foyer groaned underneath the weight of the vases filled with flowers. Bouquets arrived each day for Isabella. What a triumph already!
Isabella entered the room and gestured to the flowers. “Aren’t they pretty? And look; one is for you.” She indicated a vase of red and white roses.
“Me?” Leticia picked up the card.
Dear Miss Wentworth,
I cannot recall when I have enjoyed the company of a lady as much as I enjoyed yours. Please consider doing me the favor of allowing me to call upon you in the near future. I look forward to spending time with you again.
Your humble servant,
Bradbury
“Oh, my,” Leticia breathed. Though Lord Bradbury had been generous to donate an exorbitant sum of money on her supper dance, he had done so out of kindness, not any personal gesture. Hadn’t he?
“Is it from Lord Bradbury?” Isabella leaned over her shoulder.
“It is.”
Isabella let out a squeal, then composed herself, looking around to see if anyone had witnessed her loss of comportment. “I knew it. You didn’t believe me, but I knew he liked you.”
“Oh, good heavens, Bella, it’s commonplace for a gentleman to send flowers to a lady with whom he danced.”
“These are roses.”
“It might be his signature. He might send roses to everyone.”
Isabella huffed. “Sometimes you are no fun at all.”
“It’s pointless to get one’s hopes up about a bouquet.” Leticia inhaled the fragrant scent.
“Are you afraid to get your hopes up?”
“He’s a kind gentleman, so yes I like him, but he’s also a viscount, so no, I’m not entertaining any naive dreams that he has intentions other than courtesy because we shared a dance and supper for a charity.”
“He singled you out at Vauxhall,” Isabella reminded her.
Leticia shrugged. “Tristan put him up to it. I need to change for dinner.” She turned away from her sister and climbed the curving staircase to her room.
Isabella followed. “What were the requirements on your list, the one you gave to Tristan when he made his wager with you?”
“I have no wish to discuss this.”
“If I recall correctly, you wanted a husband who would be faithful, kind, have integrity…oh, and something about wit and intelligence, as I recall.”
“Isabella…” Leticia warned. Clearly, relating to her sister the conversation she’d had with Tristan had been a lapse in judgment.
“Lord Bradbury is handsome, a viscount in possession of a great fortune, he seems kind, a witty conversationalist, doesn’t have a reputation for gambling, did not drink at either social event where I saw him, and, according to Aunt Alice, he is a man of integrity who has never had any public affairs, which means he’s either very discreet, or virtuous. Either way, he’s not a rake. If you don’t want him, you’re hopeless.”
Leticia stammered, unnerved by her sister’s onslaught. Finally, she managed, “No viscount of his means will consider wedding a country miss with a feeble dowry and a passable face.”
“Your face is beyond passable. As far as the rest—he will offer for you if he loves you.”
“He doesn’t love me.”
“He might if you give him a chance.” Isabella sighed. “If you don’t want him, can I have him?”
“If you love each other, bless you both.” Leticia turned away.
“What is this really about?”
At the doorway to her room, Leticia paused and leaned against the doorjamb. “I’m afraid to give him a chance.”
“Why?”
Leticia gathered her thoughts and gave voice to her fears. “What if I do fall in love with him, and then he marries another? I don’t think my heart would survive another blow of that nature.”
Isabella made a sound of distress. “Oh, Tish.” She wrapped her arms around Leticia and hugged her close. Leticia leaned against her sister, letting her love and warmth surround and comfort her.
After a moment, Leticia pulled away. “We need to dress for dinner.”
Isabella didn’t move. “You have so much love to give to a husband and a family. You are foolish not to give Lord Bradbury a chance.”
Leticia smiled sadly. “If he calls, I will encourage him, but I won’t hold out hope he has any designs on me.”
“Then I’ll hope enough for the both of us.” Isabella waltzed out of the room.
Leticia shook her head. She used to have Isabella’s innocence once when a future with Richard seemed certain. But not all dreams come true.